23 November 2009

I don't really use the Amazon "Gift Organizer" but I did set it up a couple of years ago, and made a list of the people for whom we "must" find gifts for Christmas, and once in awhile I do actually add something to one of the lists as a kind of aide-mémoire. But some of the people? I've never actually put anything on their list.1

What Amazon does in that case is make some random suggestion - Here's the most wished for camera. How about a Kindle? Here's the most gifted in Gourmet.2

Imagine my surprise when I looked at the Gift Organizer the other day and discovered that it was suggesting the Vinturi Essential Wine Aerator for my nephew.

Obviously, Amazon does not realize that Tiny is FOUR.

1 Not because I don't love them, but because I buy in lots of other places, like the thrift shop, and I make things, and, well, even though it likes to think so, Amazon doesn't sell everything.

2 Can I just say how much I hate that use of "gifted". It's "I gave you the book", not "I gifted you the book". Argh.

Yeah. I was reading the editor's thingy in the Food & Drink magazine one Christmas and she mentioned "the food, decorating and gifting details that go into Christmas". I threw the magazine across the room (well, maybe not literally, but I definitely did in my head). I'm not sure whether I get more annoyed when their suggestions are stupid or when they're right on target -- like, the Big Scary Computer actually KNKOWS me? Agh.

I laughed and laughed when a friend brought a wine aerator to our recent dinner party... and I laughed some more when I heard the SQLRCHH sound it made as the wine poured through it... And then I stopped laughing, because that aerated wine really did taste better. So, it's a fine gift, as long as your nephew is a patient young fellow and can wait a little over a decade and a half to use it.

About Me

It's a journal, a scrapbook, a record of my kid growing up. It's about food, it's about the pleasures of gardening. It's where I wear my heart on my sleeve, play with words and rail at the world. It's where I muse, and where I indulge my inner magpie. I have two horrible cats and not enough time to read.
If you'd like, you can email me at magpiemusing AT gmail DOT com.